THE wine grape harvest is well underway, and the dry weather has been ideal.
But if we are to safely get the reds off as well, we still need a lot more warm weather during the next month to ensure they get the finish required to see those varieties fully ripened as well.
Right now the Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Tempranillo have all been picked and are out of the elements, with the Prosecco expected to be coming off next week – to be followed by the Moscato Giallo.
The other Reds are ripening slowly, but with some still about that month away, we will keep our fingers crossed.
Unfortunately, winemakers around the region are reporting that their flavour levels are not developing in line with the sweetness of the fruit – yet another unwanted issue in this whacked out, crazy (and way over it) season.
Everyone`s yields are also down on what they wanted, but considering the extreme disease pressure caused by all our wet weather through October and November, most of us are just happy that we can be out there and harvesting.
And as if we all don’t have enough on our plates, speaking of Big Red, the Harvester, it’s been pretty grumpy so far this season, causing plenty of mechanical and electrical issues to contend with between harvest jobs.
The Orbs are now at full size after feasting on moths, bugs, each other and riders of small motorbikes. Heaps end up on the tractor after harvesting at night. They are very territorial and don’t like being too close to others and by the morning only one is alive and the rest are lunch.
I also found a lizard in the grape harvester after a contract job last week, he was pretty sticky and pretty unhappy about the situation, but after a bit of chat and a rubdown, I pointed him in the direction of his home, and he slowly wandered off – although I could clearly hear him muttering #%&* as he left.
A major security alert was triggered recently in Swan Hill with several foreign satellites focusing in on intensive, missile-like activity in one portion of the town.
It was in fact the Pro Circuit Tennis Tournament, where repetitive missile like tennis shots were on show.
It was a great event for Swan Hill to see this level of tennis, we normally see one or two missile like shots in a rally in our Saturday comp but the next shot normally zooms off, way over the fence.
